Infant gender and sibling dyad influences on maternal separation anxiety

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to compare maternal separation anxiety by gender of infants and sibling dyad in 40 employed, second-time mothers. Subjects completed two parallel measures of separation anxiety, the Maternal Separation Anxiety. Scale (MSAS) and the Interview-Based Rating Scales (IBRS). The mothers completed the MSAS when the first infant was born and again 2 years later when their second infant was 7 months old (mean age). Following completion of the MSAS (for the second child), the mothers were interviewed and rated on their separation concerns (IBRS) related to both children. No gender differences were noted when t-tests were computed on mothers' MSAS mean scores, but the IBRS revealed that mothers of second-born sons were significantly more anxious about separation (t = 2.01, p < .05) than were mothers of second-born daughters. One-way General Linear Model comparisons of both measures, for the four sibling dyads, revealed significant differences related to the dyad composition. Mothers of girl/girl dyads were significantly more anxious about separation as measured by the MSAS. On the IBRS, mothers of boy/boy dyads were significantly more anxious and mothers of boy/girl dyads were significantly less anxious when compared to mothers of the other dyads.